Pictures of Brooklyn Beckham posing with a gun have been defended by the photographer – saying it was a “creative moment”.

Victoria and David Beckham’s photography student son pointed the prop weapon at the camera and held it across his chest, in a shoot by photographer Damon Baker.

After the snaps were posted on Instagram, Beckham, 18, was accused of “popularising gun violence” and of depicting a weapon that causes “destruction and despair”, despite “being brought up with such privilege”.

Photographer Baker later defended the images, saying that he comes from a deprived area of Birmingham, where “people often turn to crime” and “guns play a big part”.

“I come from a poor section of Birmingham, England. Where inequality and unemployment are the highest in the country. In these desperate conditions people often turn to crime, guns play a big part here. I’ve seen it first hand,” he said.

“It is a sad but true fact of the current world we live in that guns are everywhere.

“They are in every other Hollywood film, they are on the streets, they are on the fields of the endless wars that our governments have launched.”

Beckham was “a subject, a model” and “a blank canvas”, he added.

“In many ways we are living in dark times, where freedoms and livelihoods are being stripped from the people pretty much at gunpoint. I don’t think it is the job of my generation to sugar coat reality.”

Brooklyn Beckham (Ian West/PA)

While many supported his comments, Rebeccajroland replied: “Birmingham isn’t that bad.”

Teenager Beckham, who is based in New York studying photography, posted a series of images from the black and white shoot on his Instagram account.